(Richard Anderson of 49 Hubbard
Avenue, Red Bank, NJ 07701, ponders the answer to the question of who built the
Littell-Lord house in 1760. (See the article appearing in the Fall 1978 issue of LLA,
pages 12, 13. The house is in Berkeley Heights, NJ. Richard summarizes known
appropriate data and asks the question, “who is the Andrew Littell, builder. ..?" John Littell (c1646-1713) of
Elizabeth NJ had two wives. By the first wife, Dorothy, he had one son, Samuel.
By the second wife, Mary White he had six more children in the late 1600s and
early 1700s. The eldest son of John was
Samuel Littell (1674- 1744), who by his wife, Lydia Bonnell, had 14 children, of
which we are interested in David. The ninth son of Samuel was
David Littell (Jan 1717/8 —2 Aug 1790), who by his first
wife, Susannah Craig, had 7 children. Their fifth child was ANDREW, born Jan
1747/9, He married a Miss Runyon and
resettled in western New York. He would be too young to have built a house in
1760. The sixth child of the above
David Littell was David, Jr. (Jan 1750/1 — 28 Dec 1812) who married Hannah
Miller and had ten children, of whom the eldest was ANDREW (14 Feb 1772 — 13 Aug
1795). The fifth child of David, Jr. was William Littell (29 Jan 1777/8 — 7 May
1804) who married Mary Ward and their second child was ANDREW born after 1804,
the birth year of his older brother. Neither would have built a house in 1760. The third son of the
progenitor, John Littell, was Anthony Littell (c1685-1731 or 1732) who married
twice. By the second wife, Mary Ladner, Anthony had 9 children, all but two having names beginning
with A. Of these, the third was ANDREW (15 Dec 1718 — 18 May 1795) who married
Mary “Molly” Stewart, born 15 Jan 1724/25. This Andrew would have been 41 in
1760. The latter is the only one of
the above Littells named Andrew who was of the right age to build the Littell
house in Berkeley Heights in c1760. Are there any documents giving more
information about the family? For example, is there a will or estate
administration, of either parents, or of any of the children listed below, or
any deeds? The children of the possible builders, Andrew Littell and Mary
“Molly” Stewart were:i. William Littell, born 12 Apr
1745. He married, 1st Sarah Baker d/o Thomas Baker, Jr, 23 Jul 1769. He married, 2nd, Sarah Drake, d/o
Andrew Drake. Altogether William had five
children, including Andrew (16 Apr 1778—1 May 1841)ii. Sophia Littell, born 27 Mar
1747. She married Asa Frazee, s/o Joseph Frazee, 25 June 1775, They had three
children.iii. Mary “Polly” Littell, born
4 Mar 1748/9, She married Zachariah Van Sickle 30 Oct 1763. They had five
children.iv. Rachel Littell, born 6 Jan
1750/1. She married a Mr. Masters.v. Ephraim Littell, born 13 Dec
1760, died c1806 in Warren Go, OH. He had three children but his wife’s name is
unknown.vi. HannahLittell, born 5 Oct
1762. She married a Mr. Heddy.vii. Temperance Littell, born 30
May 1769. She married Joseph Valentine, s/o Jonah Valentine and Susan Bedell.
They had 5 children. Note that Mary would have been 44 or 45 when Temperance was
born.